


Tough Guy

by Corliss_Rose



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Jake is pining for a bit, Jake's POV, Jake's aunt is basically a combination of my sister and friend, M/M, Post-Squip, Rich is a math geek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 07:53:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11687295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corliss_Rose/pseuds/Corliss_Rose
Summary: Jake was a “tough guy.” Well, supposed to be anyway. He threw massive parties, fooled around with girls, never backed down when dared to do something. He could check off all the boxes on the “tough guy” tryout form.Just one setback. He was in love with his best friend.





	Tough Guy

**Author's Note:**

> Writing for pining Jake is much more fun than I thought it would be

Jake was a “tough guy.” Well, supposed to be anyway. He threw massive parties, fooled around with girls, never backed down when dared to do something. He could check off all the boxes on the “tough guy” tryout form. 

Just one setback. He was in love with his best friend. His best friend that happened to be a dude. 

There wasn’t one determining moment that caused Jake to realize how bad he had it for Rich. Millions of tiny things had added up to the final equation. Like how his lisp was more prominent when he was nervous. Or how he would let Jake copy his homework if he knew he had been working a double shift and didn’t have time to finish it. Or how he didn’t even think twice before punching the dude that had tried to harass Brooke once when the three were out smoking. 

But, really, the penny had dropped when Rich almost started crying while apologizing for the fire and everything that fell out after. 

So here he was. Almost done with the physical therapy to get his legs back in working order, most of the chaos from that freaky ecstasy they had all taken died down. Things were almost back to normal. 

But Jake didn’t know how long he would be able to take it. 

“What am I supposed to do, Chloe?” Jake said, slumping into her desk chair. 

“Talk to him, duh,” she said, as if it were really that easy. 

After Chloe had come out as a lesbian to him, they had taken to having long discussions about not-so-straight topics. It wasn’t always about their real feelings or crushes. Sometimes they’d talk about celebrities, or TV shows, or the nonsensical gossip Jenna continued to feed them. 

“Chloe. You know I can’t just, you know, confront him. That’s like, asking for some disaster shit storm.”

“Seriously? Rich came out as bi, like, weeks ago. You’re seriously just tormenting yourself for no reason.” 

Jake sighed. As right as she was, he was still terrified.

“Can you tell me about how you and Brooke got together again?” he asked. 

“You realize it’s not a really remarkable story, right?”

“Yeah but, you know, you guys are the only two not straight couple I really know, besides Heere and Mell.”

Chloe’s annoyed look morphed into a small smile, first at Jake’s enthusiasm and then at the memory. 

“Okay. Well, we were at H&M and Brooke was trying on dresses. She came out of the dressing room in this adorable yellow summer dress and asked if it looked okay. I told her she always looked perfect and, I dunno, something just told me that was the right moment to tell her how I felt.”

This was definitely not the first time Jake had heard the story. Chloe had told him the night after the events in question, and on days he felt particularly low he would have her retell it. It was sappy but also simple and he couldn’t deny he was a little bit envious. 

But, hey, maybe it’ll be like that for him. Maybe the perfect moment will arise and he won’t chicken out and it’ll all go amazingly.

That moment just hadn’t happened yet. 

 

It was the next day, after school. Jake and Rich were at a spot near the back of campus, where a cluster of picnic benches sat underneath a gigantic tree. The two would come here most days after school and attempt at working on homework. More often than not, though, homework would be abandoned and they’d end up talking about random things. This was definitely one of Jake’s favorite parts of the day. 

“What did you get on the math studies test?” asked Rich, who was shuffling through his unorganized folder. 

After all the weird shit happened at the play, Rich had become a lot more shy around most people. He was still able to easily intimidate people when he wanted, just in a less loud-mouthed way. He also tried to make amends with all the kids he had bullied the year before.

Jake was happy that Rich was never very shy around him. 

“I, uh. Not really good.” Jake slid his test over to Rich. 

Besides the fact that Jake just didn’t like math, the equations never seemed to make sense, he had that class with Rich. Which proved to be a distraction. 

“Dude, why didn’t you tell me you were sucking in this class? I could tutor you or something, math is one of the only classes I’m okay at.”

Oh, Jake was aware of how “okay” Rich was at math. That was another thing that had changed after the crazy events. Rich went from being apathetic about the subject to being a complete math geek. Often times Jake would zone out and admire how adorable Rich’s look of concentration and excitement at what they were learning was. 

“Aw, man, you don’t have to. I’m sure I’ll be able to pass and all that.”

“Seriously, I don’t mind. We can just, like, go over the homework problems maybe. It’ll be fun.”

Jake raised an eyebrow. “You have a weird definition of fun.” And, because some part of him must be super masochistic, he said, “yeah, sure. Can’t hurt, right?”

“Awesome! We can start now, if you want.” Rich riffled through his mess of papers and pulled out the assignment they had been given in class. Of course, his was already completed while Jake had only half-assedly finished the first four problems. 

“Okay, what did you get on the first one?” Without waiting for Jake to answer, Rich leaned in close to him to see his paper. Jake’s breath hitched and he really hoped Rich wouldn’t be able to hear his heart pounding or notice how red his face was growing. 

“The first one looks good, but I think something’s off with your second answer.”

Rich didn’t move from his position of being pressed up against Jake as he explained the problem. 

“Does that make sense?” Rich asked as he pulled back a bit to look at Jake’s face. 

“Y-yeah I think I get it now,” Jake stammered. 

“Dude, are you okay? Your face is super red. You’re not coming down with something, are you?”

“Naw I’m fine.” Jake offered an awkward, probably strained looking smile.

“Okaaay,” Rich said before turning back to look at the next problem. 

Jake really needed to do something about these feelings.

 

Jake lived with his aunt. Once she heard about the illegal dealings his parents had made and how he didn’t have anywhere to go after the fire, she packed up and moved to New Jersey. From the get-go she had made it clear she wouldn’t be able to pay for everything for him, so he still had to work almost as much as before. But it was nice having a welcoming face to se everyday. And she was really liberal, so Jake knew when he finally got around to coming out she would still let him live with her. 

The house they shared was small, nothing like the one Jake used to live in, but he had found that he liked the simplicity of it. It felt much more like a home than the other house ever had. 

Jake was in the side room they had transformed into a pretty cozy den. He was meant to be doing the rest of his math problems, but all he had managed to do so far was stare at the step-by-step instructions Rich had scribbled on the side of the paper to help him. 

He had to figure out what he was going to do with the whole Rich situation. It was getting more and more difficult to stay quiet and control himself. 

There was a light tap on the door and Jake looked up to see his aunt, who had insisted he refer to her with her first name Charolette, leaning in the doorway.

“If I didn’t know any better I’d say it looks like you’re studying,” she said. 

Jake’s relationship with his aunt was always more the way you’d see two siblings with a large age gap. She’d tease him about everything but try to give advice when he’d need it. She was only about seven years older than him so he always felt more comfortable talking to her than other adults. 

“Trying and failing. I’ve said it a million times before, but school just isn’t my thing.”

She let out a snort. “Get over yourself, school isn’t anybody’s thing.” She walked over and plopped down on the couch behind where Jake was seated on the floor. 

“You need any wise words from your all knowing aunt?” she teased. 

“I think I like your advice better when your drunk, so I’m good for now.”

“Ouch,” she said with a laugh. “Seriously though. You seem more distracted than normal.”

A part of Jake wanted to gush about his feelings. Throw away any insecurity he had before and tell Charolette about it all. But he didn’t know if he was ready for anyone but Chloe to know. 

“Let’s say, hypothetically, this one dude likes this other dude.”

“Like likes or buddy bro likes?”

Jake gave her a quizzical look. “Both, I guess,” he said slowly. “But he doesn’t want to screw up shit ‘cuz a lot of crazy stuff happened recently and things are almost normal again. What should he, like, do about the other dude?”

She thought for a moment. “Well,” she said, “this dude could either stay quiet and miserable, or her can talk to the other dude and see what happens.”

Jake looked at her blankly for a few seconds. “You are absolutely no help.”

“Hey! I listened to your ‘hypothetical’ story and told you the truth. And,” she stretched out the ‘and,’ “I’m going to order pizza later. I’d say that’s plenty help.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jake waved her exclamation off. “Thanks for the advice.”

Charolette hopped off the couch and stretched like she had just taken a nap. 

“Welp, I have to get back to stupid work stuff. Holler when you start getting hungry.” With that, she bounded out of the room.

Jake leaned back against the couch, math homework forgotten. He mulled over what Charolette had said. Both her and Chloe make it seem like confessing to Rich is so easy. 

It had never been this difficult all the various times he had asked out chicks. But all of those times hadn’t been as serious. This time he was terrified. The thought of rejection had never seemed as bad as it did now. 

There was a loud rap on the door. Jake figured Charolette was already glued to her work computer with her sound canceling head phones on. So he went to answer it. 

It was Rich. 

“Hey-“ it took him a moment to see that Rich was shaking, his eyes red and swollen. “Oh my god, what happened?” He pulled Rich inside, concern and fear filling up his senses. He lead Rich to his room so he might feel more comfortable to talk. Rich sank to the floor. 

“I-it was my dad.”

“What did he do?” Jake asked, trying to keep his anger from bubbling up.

“I look like such a fucking wuss,” Rich laughed mirthlessly. 

It wasn’t uncommon for Rich to come to Jake’s place when his dad was out of control. But never had Rich been in this much of a state. 

“Rich, what happened?”

Rich started to shake more violently. Jake wrapped his arms around him and held him to his check, whispering “it’s okay”’s and “I’m here”’s. 

Rich pulled back a bit and took a deep breath. He didn’t move Jake’s arms from around him. 

“He was already drunk when I got back. First thing he started doing when I got there was accuse me of stealing drugs from him. I didn’t take any of his shit,” Rich spat. He took another deep breath and Jake nodded at him to go on. 

“He kept screaming that I took his stuff and I told him I didn’t even touch it. Guess I wasn’t convincing enough ‘cuz he started going through my room, throwing shit everywhere. I tried to get him to stop, like it would do any good.” Rich bit back a sob. It hurt to see him like this. Jake held him tighter. 

“H-he found one of my magazines under my bed. It wasn’t explicit or anything but I guess even a drunk idiot can figure out why I’d have a magazine with a shirtless guy on the cover. 

“He started screaming that I was gonna go to hell. How fucked up is that? Him drunk off his ass telling me I’m going to hell ‘cuz I like guys.” Rich’s voice broke and he buried his face in Jake’s shoulder. 

They stayed like that for a while, seated on Jake’s floor. Rich’s shaking slowly subsided. For a moment, Jake thought he might have fallen asleep, until he heard him mumble something into his shoulder. 

“What was that?” Jake asked. Rich pulled back a bit so Jake could see his face. 

“I said you shouldn’t have to deal with me like this,” said Rich, looking down almost shamefully. 

“Of course I do.” Rich’s gaze snapped back up. “You’re my best friend.” 

Jake was beginning to realize just how close together they were. Rich hadn’t moved from Jake’s arms and they were practically nose to nose. He felt his face begin to heat. 

“It’s just, you know what I mean, I’m such a fucking mess. You shouldn’t have to deal with this, I’m not even the fucking same as when you first tried to be my-“

“I like you!” Jake blurted, cutting off what Rich had been saying. “Oh my god. I’m so sorry that was really shitty timing you probably would never even-“

Rich kissed him. One moment Jake was talking the next Rich’s lips were on his. 

It was brief, only lasting a second, and Jake was too stunned to react. He stared at Rich after he pulled back.

“Is that okay?” Rich asked nervously, his lisp much more audible than normal. 

“Definitely.” Jake cupped Rich’s face with his hands and kissed him. Rich’s hand slid to the back of Jake’s head. Rich’s lips were soft and parted when Jake deepened the kiss. 

Jake pulled back slowly, pressing his forehead to Rich’s. 

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that,” Jake said.

“You should have said something sooner.”

 

Jake was a “tough guy.” He threw massive parties, used to fool around with girls, never backed down when dared to do something. And he was in love with his best friend. His best friend who he was determined to make a relationship work with.


End file.
